What They’re Saying: April 4

WISH TV: “(The Pacers) know what’s in front of them now — their first divisional banner in nearly 10 years.” Read More

Indy Cornrows: ”But does it really matter whether the Pacers finish second or third? Might it be better to finish third to set up a more favorable first round playoff matchup?” Read More

New York Magazine: “The Indiana game at the Garden on April 14 will be huge…The Pacers lead the season series 2-1, so a win in that game would secure them the tiebreaker. But if the Knicks win, they’ll likely get the tiebreaker because of their better conference record.” Read More

Fox 59: “Indiana will be glad if the division comes their way via a loss to the Bulls or their next win, but one could only imagine they would like to celebrate the honor with their home crowd Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.” Read More

Yahoo Sports’ ‘Ball Don’t Lie’: “The Indiana Pacers are rolling. The team is soon to win the Central Division for the first time since 2004, the squad continues to churn out a devastating defensive attack, and coach Frank Vogel’s crew is back home in Indiana after an impressive road trip that saw the Pacers take games against the Rockets, Mavericks, Suns and Clippers in six days.” Read More

And over on NBA.com’s Hang Time Blog, six NBA.com writers weighed in on who they liked to win the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference between the Pacers and Knicks. Five writers picked the Pacers to end up with the top seed. Here’s a few relevant quotes:

Steve Aschburner: “Indiana has a more favorable schedule to the finish, in my view, so I’m liking them at No. 2 — and as one half of a solid Eastern Conference finals.”

Fran Blinebury: “You’ve always got to take good defense over good offense and the Pacers have the best defense in the league.”

Jeff Caplan: “Paul George is sensational and David West is playing at a high level. Their defense is smothering and now that Roy Hibbert is playing better, this team is multidimensional and dangerous.”

Sekou Smith: Much has been made this season, and rightfully so, about the job Frank Vogel has done with Indiana. But I’d argue that Mike Woodson has done as good a coaching job of anyone in the league when you factor in the games his players have missed to injury and the fact that he’s working with half a roster that could star in ‘Cocoon 3.’” Read More